What an exciting month March is! Great North Florida brewing weather, St. Patrick's Day, and CASK gets to be the first to test the taps at Aardwolf Brewery.

February was a good time for CASK as well. The Sourheads had a group brew and the klub had its first group brew of 2013. We came together to brew for Jax Beer Week, since we will have a booth at the grand tasting event April 6. If you couldn't make the group brew but still would like to donate a keg, check out the recipe on the website. As many of you know we lined up six breweries to sponsor a style for Abbey Normale, so get your mash paddles out and fire up your kettles because May will be here before you know it.

Sláinte!

- Shaun

What's Firkin
Going On !

Next CASK Meeting: The March 9th CASK meeting will be held in the new Aardwolf Brewery at 1461 Hendricks Ave. in San Marco. They won’t be selling their own beer, but they will have some nice crafts on tap. And right now it looks like CASK may be the first group to really break in the taps there. It may be the equivalent of a soft opening. The interclub competition is Stouts (anything in BJCP category 13). Register your beers on the website and drop off labeled beers at either Just Brew It by 5 p.m. Friday, March 8, or bring your labeled and chilled entries to Aardwolf by 5 p.m. Saturday. As usual, social hour starts at 6, the business meeting at 7. Bring beer to share and feel free to bring your own food, or you can order something delivered.

Thanks to Michael and Preben for allowing CASK to meet at their beautiful new brewery. Excellent job, guys! We are looking forward to some great beers from Michael.

For April, we’re back at Seven Bridges Grille & Brewery.

The May meeting will the Comp de L’Abbey Normale Belgian competition. Location to be determined.

Growler law reform: A new law could legalize the industry-standard 64 ounce growler at breweries and brewpubs. This is only the first step in making Florida’s ridiculous growler laws more reasonable. Please help support House Bill 715 and Senate Bill 1344.

Comp de L’Abbaye Normale: Have you started brewing yet? Our annual Belgian competition is set for May 11. It’s open to BJCP categories 16, 17 and 18 (excluding 17A Berliner weisse). Winners of the six sponsored categories will get to brew their recipes on a commercial scale (pending approval by the pro brewers).

To avoid overwhelming our judges, we are limiting entries to three total per brewer, and two per category. The entry fee will be $3 per beer. The drop-off deadline is April 26. We’ll do pre-judging on May 5, and the final judging will take place May 11, before the monthly CASK meeting at Intuition Ale Works. Winners will be announced at that meeting.
Get your recipes together and get your ingredients order – particularly the yeasts you’ll need -- to Just Brew It as soon as possible.

Coconut Cup: Mark Slater won gold for his “Hop Rendition” American IPA and was runner-up for Best of Show in the Coconut Cup, hosted by MASH on March 2. Congratulations, Mark!

Next up: Hurricane Blowoff, April 19-20; Hogtown Brew-Off, May 24-25.

Klub Only
Events

Comp de L’Abbaye Normale:Our annual Belgian competition (a club-only BJCP event) will be held May 11. We have more sponsoring breweries than ever, which means more opportunities to brew your recipe on a commercial scale! Open to BJCP categories 16, 17 and 18 (excluding 17A Berliner weisse). Category winners will get to brew at Bold City (Saison), Intuition (Belgian Dark Strong), Green Room (Tripel), Bold City (Saison), Engine 15 (Dubble) or Pinglehead (Belgian Blonde). Drop-off deadline April 26 at Just Brew It. Place your ingredients orders with JBI well in advance. Details above.

CASK Barrel Project:The Old Ale (Category 19A) judging and racking is TBD at this time.

Lambic Solara Project:Two years ago, a few "Sour Heads" in the Klub formulated an idea to create a solara in which three varying aged Lambics would be blended and distributed to those who participated. There are 9 brewers involved, who currently have one 50 gallon barrel of 20-month-old Lambic, one 50 gallon barrel of year-old Lambic and one 50 gallon barrel of just brewed Lambic. Once aged, they will pull off small amounts of each barrel, blend and distribute the resulting Gueuze to the participating brewers. They are currently on schedule to brew 50 gallons again in about six month for top off to continue the souring process. There will be a copius amount of this Gueuze available for all to sample once it is distributed. If you get a chance, you should definitely give it a taste!

Competition
Update

Florida Circuit Competitions:Hurricane Blowoff:
The Palm Beach Draughtsmen’s 18th annual Hurricane Blowoff, always an AHA/BJCP certified homebrew, mead and cider competition, will come ashore in suburban West Palm Beach @ El Encanto during the weekend of April 19th – 20th.
The entry window will open on March 11th and close at 5pm on March 29th.

Hogtown Brewoff:
The 2013 Hogtown Brew-Off will be held again at the beautiful Kanapaha Botanical Gardens. Kanapaha will be the site of judging Friday and Saturday, the Wild Boar Keg Competition Saturday afternoon, and the gala awards banquet Saturday night.
May 24-25, 2013
Entry Window Will Open On April 22, 2013

On Saturday, March 16, the day before St. Patrick’s Day, Intuition will host the inaugural Luck of the Kiwi 5K in conjunction with the PRS Running Club. The race starts and finishes at the brewery and all runners get one free beer at the after-party.
Gourmet Aviator food truck will be on hand.
To learn more about prizes and how to register, visit http://prsrunningclub.com/prs-races.html
Also on March 16, they’ll tap The Redman Irish red ale and a Milk Stout – available to everyone, even if you’re not a runner.

A brewer’s dinner is set for Tuesday, March 12. The menu is still being finalized, but you can count on some great beer pairings.
Also, Irish Red Ale and Luck O’ The Ryerish will be on tap throughout the month.

March 13: Conservation Patagonia night. Ping pong tourney, raffle, and we will be showing 180 Degrees South on the big screen in the back. March 14th. Surf movie night. It's a double feature this month with Paradigm Shift and a surprise surf feature.

March 17: Just in time for St. Patty’s, the return of the Irish Red Tide.

March 28: Tapping our Berliner weisse. One version will be a traditional style Berliner weisse and the other? Well, I guess you'll have to come in on tapping day and see.

They’re also tapping another batch of the Mary Lee Hoppy Wheat. And they’ll be canning some Pablo Beach Pale Ale with the mobile canning guys at Craft Brew Crew.

The 5th annual Bold City Flip Cup Tournament is set for on Saturday, March 16.

Bold City beers will be featured in a craft beer dinner at Whole Foods Market on Friday, March 22. For reservations call (904) 288-1100.

On March 23, they’ll host a fundraiser for Foundation Fighting Blindness. Starting at 5:30 p.m., a dollar from every beer sold will go to the foundation. Firewater Tent Revival will provide music starting at 7.

March 20: Ed and Roger from the T-U’s Amber Waves brewed another batch of the big, hoppy red ale called, naturally, Amber Wave. It goes on tap at 4 p.m.. Proceeds will benefit St. Johns Riverkeeper. Ed says, “If you don’t buy this beer, you hate the St. Johns River and want it to die!” So buy the beer, please. A few kegs will be distributed at other beer spots around town.

March 20: Engine 15 beers will be featured in a beer-pairing dinner at Gas Full Service Restaurant in St. Augustine. You’ll get six great beers and five courses for $65 (including tax and tip). For reservations call, (904) 217-0326

We’ll get a close-up look at the brewery and its beautiful tap room at Saturday’s meeting. They’re still waiting on their federal brewing permit, but some great beers soon will be on tap. And food trucks will be a regular feature in the parking lot out back.

Kickbacks Gastropub:One of America's truely great beer establisments with 84 beers on tap and over 600 bottled beers. So many beers, in fact, that they have an "App for that".

Construction has started on Goozlepipe & Guttyworks. The bulk of the work is being done underground at this point. Stay tuned!

Regina is organizing a March 30 road trip to Gainesville, with proceeds benefitting K9s for Warriors. Cost is $100 and includes lunch and a beer at each stop. For information, see the event web site: http://www.jaxbrewbitch.com/?page_id=1737

Regina also hosts a bottle-sharing every Saturday from 2 p.m. to 4 p.m at Green Room Brewing, and every Sunday from noon to 2 p.m. at Brewer’s Pizza.

Subscribe to the Jax Brew Bitch newsletter for a chance to win fabulous prizes, such as an all-expenses-paid trip to the luxurious Left Bank of Middleburg (just kidding, Andy!). http://www.jaxbrewbitch.com

- Broudy’s Liquors has a new beer cellar at the Cobblestone store in St. Augustine, stocked full of excellent craft beer. 516 W. Geoffrey St., St. Augustine, 32086

Florida
and the Nation

05.04.13AHA Big Brew - A Celebration of National Homebrew DayEach year the AHA highlights homebrew recipes for Big Brew. Then hundreds of homebrewers register their Big Brew locations for a communal brew-in to celebrate National Homebrew Day.

06.27.13AHA National Homebrewers ConferenceThe National Homebrewers Conference is a fun, educational gathering designed to enhance homebrewers' brewing skills and knowledge and increase homebrewing camaraderie.

Brewer Profile

Each month we will profile one of our very own CASK members and subject them to rigorous interrogation.

If you are interested in being profiled, please contact the CASK Secretary.

BREWER:
Andy Butler
How long have you been brewing?I became a CASK member in 2008 but I helped my grandmother make wine when I was a kid. I made my first batch of wine when I was 12. I brewed my first batch of beer when I was in the Air Force in the last '80s through the early '90s in Alaska.
What do you do when you're not brewing?I work in the field of disabilities with my wife. I try to spend as much time with my family as I can. Other than that, I work in my garden, do woodworking, beekeeping, and when I'm really lucky, I go fishing.

What styles do you tend to brew the most? I like to brew most all of the styles but I really like brewing the bigger beers. All of BJCP categories 18, 19C, 13F, 14C, 9E. I like to have a variety on tap because you never know what the day calls for.

Describe your homebrew system. My brew system is just 15.5 gallon beer kegs for my mash tun and brew kettle. My brother built the burner with a high-pressure regulator. I ferment in 5 and 6.5 gallon glass carboys.

What do you have on tap or in the fermenter right now? A black IPA, sweet stout, dry stout, Irish red, and a blueberry beer. In the fermenter is a prickly pear braggot.

What's your dream beer vacation?Take a year off and drive state to state and visit as many breweries as I can.

Planning will begin soon for this year's First Coast Cup - Stay Tuned.

Tech
Corner

Our "Tech Corner" is meant to provide the membership with usefull information that they can incorporate into their own brewing process.

Brew in a Bag (BIAB)

Many extract / parital mash brewers will not make the switch to all-grain due to equipment, expense or unfamiliarity with the process. Brew in a Bag (BIAB) all grain beer brewing is a method for all grain brewing that originated in Australia. BIAB is an inexpensive way to for homebrewers to transition to all grain or partial mash brewing. Brewers also enjoy brew in a bag methods for the shorter setup, brewing and cleanup times.

The concept behind “brew in a bag” is to move to all grain brewing with minimal extra equipment, setup or time. The BIAB method involves using a grain bag set in the brew pot to mash the grains, followed by a sparge step where the bag is removed from the pot and the remaining wort is boiled as you would any other beer. While less efficient than traditional methods, you can easily compensate for this by using a little more grain in the mash.

The links below are excellent resources for a step by step description on how the brewing process is accomplished:

Klub Dues are $20/year. It is important that you stay current on dues in order to participate in Klub activities, enter Klub competitions and receive discounts on brewing equipment and supplies at Just Brew It.

If you would like to renew your membership click "RENEW" or pay at Just Brew It.